I'll beard him 'mid a thousand myrmidons!
What's life to me, if in his heart's best blood
I cool the fever of this mighty anguish?
[He is going.]
FURST.
Stay, this is madness, Melchthal! What avails
Your single arm against his power? He sits
At Sarnen high within his lordly keep,
And, safe within its battlemented walls,
May laugh to scorn your unavailing rage.
MELCH.
And though he sat within the icy domes
Of yon far Schreckhorn-ay, or higher, where,
Veil'd since eternity, the Jungfrau soars,
Still to the tyrant would I make my way;
With twenty comrades minded like myself,
I'd lay his fastness level with the earth!
And if none follow me, and if you all,
In terror for your homesteads and your herds,
Bow in submission to the tyrant's yoke,
Round me I'll call the herdsmen on the hills,
And there beneath heaven's free and boundless roof,
Where men still feel as men, and hearts are true,
Proclaim aloud this foul enormity!
STAUFF. (to Furst.)
The measure's full-and are we then to wait
Till some extremity-
MELCH.
Peace! What extremity
Remains for us to dread? What, when our eyes
No longer in their sockets are secure?
Heavens! Are we helpless? Wherefore did we learn
To bend the cross-bow,-wield the battle-axe?
What living creature but in its despair,
Finds for itself a weapon of defence?
The baited stag will turn, and with the show
Of his dread antlers hold the hounds at bay;
The chamois drags the hunstman down th' abyss,
The very ox, the partner of man's toil,
The sharer of his roof, that meekly bends
The strength of his huge neck beneath the yoke,
Springs up, if he's provoked, whets his strong horn,
And tosses his tormentor to the clouds.
FURST.
If the three Cantons thought as we three do,
Something might then be done, with good effect.
STAUFF.
When Uri calls, when Unterwald replies,
Schwytz will be mindful of her ancient league.[*]
[*] The League, or Bond, of the Three Cantons was of very ancient
origin. They met and renewed it from time to time, especially when
their liberties were threatened with danger. A remarkable instance
of this occurred in the end of the 13th century, when Albert of
Austria became Emperor, and when, possibly, for the first time,
the Bond was reduced to writing. As it is important to the
understanding of many passages of the play, a translation is
subjoined of the oldest known document relating to it. The
original, which is in Latin and German, is dated in August, 1291,
and is under the seals of the whole of the men of Schwytz, the
commonalty of the vale of Uri, and the whole of the men of the
upper and lower vales of Stanz.
THE BOND
Be it known to every one, that the men of the Dale of Uri, the
Community of Schwytz, as also the men of the mountains of
Unterwald, in consideration of the evil times, have full
confidently bound themselves, and sworn to help each other with
all their power and might, property and people, against all who
shall do violence to them, or any of them. That is our Ancient
Bond.
Whoever hath a Seignior, let him obey according to the conditions
of his service.
We are agreed to receive into these dales no Judge, who is not a
countryman and indweller, or who hath bought his place.
Every controversy amongst the sworn confederates shall be
determined by some of the sagest of their number, and if any one
shall challenge their judgment, then shall he be constrained to
obey it by the rest.
Whoever intentionally or deceitfully kills another, shall be
executed, and whoever shelters him shall be banished.
Whoever burns the property of another shall no longer be regarded
as a countryman, and whoever shelters him shall make good the
damage done.
Whoever injures another, or robs him, and hath property in our
country, shall make satisfaction out of the same.
No one shall distrain a debtor without a judge, nor any one who is
not his debtor, or the surety of such debtor.
Every one in these dales shall submit to the judge, or we, the
sworn confederates, all will take satisfaction for all the injury
occasioned by his contumacy. And if in any internal division the
one party will not accept justice, all the rest shall help the
